Growing up in Hackney he faced many challenges trying to find his own path whilst trying to overcome many obstacles that tried to hinder him from getting to where he is today. Despite the trials he is pleased to say that he has become more of an accomplished musician than he has ever imagined – spreading his wings well beyond the confinements of the church while playing piano to being an all-rounded expert in the music sector.

The Beginning

Idrees has a sincere Gift and Passion for music, which was identified at a young age by his parents when he mimicked playing on a drum set – using pens and pencils to hit on anything that he came into contact with. He also at a young age knew what he wanted to be in life and that was a music producer.

His local church (C.A.C God is Love in Homerton – where Jesus Christ Reigns supreme (lol)) also recognised his gift for music and appointed him as the church keyboard player at the tender age of 11 (1998). From only knowing and playing four chords to every song, today he has grown into a gospel/Jazz/fusion improvisational piano player playing what-ever inspires his fingers, being a blessing to all that hear him play.

Abilities to Hear

Idrees has been given grace from almighty God to develop various skills in this particular sector, including being an appreciator and player of many instruments – with the piano/keyboard being his primary instrument. Although not classically trained he possess the gift to hear and identify chords and melodies without the sheet music and to also then place them into a classical context. Using these skills he is then able to teach others on any instrument including vocals based on what he has learnt through his formal and non-formal education.

Technology, Education and Experience

From this he moved onto the more technological side of music and has been producing since the age of 14 (2001) using different softwares to produce his passion into audible sound. Acquiring these skills allowed him to attain an undergraduate degree in Music Technology after achieving top grades in college for the same course.

During his summer holidays whilst at University, he worked for a youth centre called ‘Rising Tide’ in London, under ‘Ocean Music Venue’ as a tutor teaching production for beginners, using the software Logic and Reason. As well as being a tutor of Production he was also in the studio recording the artists he who taught how to produce.

Equipment and Software

Idrees is very proficient in using both PCs and Apple Macs and is able to use a variety of music software which include: Cubase; Reason; Logic; Protools; Melodyne; Garage band etc. this also includes studio hardware, such as compressors; EQ; mixing desk etc. He has recently just built his own home studio from scratch with a variety of equipment which enables him to record professional quality sounding material – good enough for mainstream and commercial use. He also has developed his Local Church into a potential location for live recording if the home studio gets too crowded.

Albums

He has produced a few albums and mix tapes with a variety of artist. The first album was a poetry album with different ambient and abstract sounds to emphasise the words spoken (Poems for my Generation by Uniquely Poetic). The second is a personal album that has a compilation of artists from the Northwest (The Gospel Experience by L.Kay GGM Shachch). This particular album was recorded and mixed in Lancaster University. Another album Produced by Idrees is ‘Grace by The Palmist’  which was done in London using the new gear and equipment both in his home studio and in the local Church. He has also produced a few singles with his close friend Isaac ‘Kay.O’ Busari called ‘Miss Temptation’and a few others which are yet to be made mainstream.

Teaching

As Idrees was coming to the end of his degree he realised that he took joy in sharing knowledge. He loved the fact that he could teach someone what he knew and the person receiving could be excited and grateful for what they had learned. After all, he himself had found it difficult to get great keyboard players of his youth to teach him piano due to the fact they wanted to keep their secrets and techniques to themselves. So Idrees decided that he would teach piano to people who were eager to learn so that he could pass on what he had learnt, including the tricks with formulas that he knew. He then moved on to teaching: musical bands how to play together; drums; sound engineering and what he loves most, life lessons, using his own life as the primary example.

Flexibility

A quality Idrees possesses is the ability to fit and work in any sector of the music industry. He can teach: piano by ear; vocals including harmonies and how to hear harmonies using three different musical languages. He also composes music and can put it in the typical classical stave setting; be a session musician; sound engineer in the studio or for a live setting; produce; conduct and be the events manager for all types of musical event.

Music Director

He was recently promoted to Music Director in charge of 5 Church choirs under C.A.C God is Love HQ. This involves leading and teaching the choirs harmonic progressions and how to improve their vocals as individuals and as a choir, instrumentation is also part of his responsibility. Idrees also started a choir in Lancaster University in 2008 called the Pentecostal Gospel Choir (LUPGC). He felt compelled to do this as there were no other choirs that portrayed real Gospel music with the passion that is needed. It was also so that international students with a Pentecostal background, who came to Lancaster had a place they could fellowship with others. This choir has now expanded to be a multicultural choir with different people from all around the world. This was an opportunity for Idrees to show his leadership and events management skills and put them into practise.

Events and Project Management

In conjunction with the music work Idrees also has a real interest in events management and consultancy. He has been involved in this area since 1998, where he was to organise concerts and hold events for churches, and these were mainly music events and social activities/concerts for youths. This consisted of booking venues, equipments, calling companies to get sponsorships and discounts off their products, liaising with our colleagues and head of departments to ensure a smooth event.

Experience

This led Idrees to work for a company in the summer of 2008 as an events manager assistant. He had three events to prepare for including the Shoreditch festival in London – which had almost 4,000 people attend. This role had him calling and liaising with his project team and with companies that where providing services or products for the show. He also had to produce a variety of new ideas that led to a smoother running of the event than previous years. When returning to University after that summer he was nominated as head events manager for the Audio/Visual event at Lancaster University. The Audio and Visual event is a three day show where music and music technology students feature their work in front of the music department and their lecturers for assessment. Idrees’ role was to make sure every-one was on top of things, by regularly e-mailing and calling to make sure every-one understood what they were doing to ensure a smooth running, he also had to write up the schedule and help the departments know what they were preparing for and what they were doing at any given time.

Masters Level

The experience Idrees gained from working with the company as an events manager lead him to pursue a Masters in Project Management which he successfully graduated from in December 2010.  The knowledge gained during this masters program gave him most of the knowledge needed to start up this business and be an independent musician – helping others who desire to do well in the music sector and in life.

After Masters

After Idrees’ Masters, he embarked on a journey to be fully self employed where he developed Divine Keys further working with ‘The Minstrelle’s’ first album ‘Message’. This album was launched in December 2012. He also worked with the likes of Gabz, who is a Gospel rapper. Idrees work on this first EP titled, ‘Heart of a Growing Man’. From the album works he also developed the teaching aspects where he designed courses starting from piano, in three different levels, choir training, guitar lessons and drums. these courses all have syllabus’ with step by step lessons.

Youth Work

In January 2011, Idrees felt the need to give back to Hackney where he grow up. He noticed that the mindsets that he was encountering seemed somewhat narrow. For example, taking a group of young people from East London to West London and they calling west London ‘Wet’ which means not as good as east London and boring. Idrees was able to go back to Rising Tide and talk Gabin Sinclair about working with young people in Hackney. Gabin was able to guide Idrees to being the YEP (Youth Engagement Project) officer overlooking 9 Estates in Hackney working for different hosing associations. Idrees was to set up youth committees in all of the estates allowing the young people to have their say on their estates and decide what activities they engaged in. During his time he was able to see young people get their own place, get elected into Hackney Youth Parliament. He also supported young people with their CV’s and Job applications which led to a few of them getting an internship with BBC and being volunteers for the 2012 London Olympics. Idrees enjoyed working with young people and had a passion to see young people reach their full potential, whatever direction they wished.

Teaching

From the youth work aspects Idrees decided to go and get his qualifications in teaching. He started his course in September 2012 at London school Academics. He graduated December 2013 top of the class with a unit in Special Eduction allowing him to understand the different needs of different student that he may come across. Idrees from January 2013 was employed at The Petchey Academy as a teaching assistant to develop his teaching practice and see good teaching practice. Idrees specialism is in Music and has developed more and more at The Petchey Academy, becoming a Teacher in his third year at the school as well as being a music technician for the school. He received his QTLS in December 2014 making him a qualified Teaching. Even without the qualification Idrees was given the opportunity to start and lead the Music Production course at the school, this has lead to learners to develop their own musical ideas. Idrees also took the role of looking after the Junior band who performed an afro-beat track in front of the school and performed to provoke positive comments from the Vice Principle who was watching and impressed at the talent of the students.

Congo 2012

Uganda 2013

USA 2013-2014

This is Idrees the Teaching Musical Project Manager.